Military continues crusade against 'whiteness' in the Armed Forces

Facebook/ Canadian Armed Forces

A Canadian military journal claims "whiteness" is inherent to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and impedes upon their efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Canadian Military Journal, the official CAF publication, has devoted nearly all articles in its latest issue to countering white supremacy, colonialism, and smashing the patriarchy.

"The [Canadian Armed Forces] is both a product and an instrument of the white settler colonial state," write authors Mount Saint Vincent University gender researcher Maya Eichler and assistant professor Vanessa Brown. 

Pseudo-academics specializing in gender and women’s studies contend critical race theory is the solution, reported True North.

"As a white settler colonial institution, the military has historically reproduced white privilege and the marginalization of racialized 'others,'" they said.

According to the Department of National Defence, Canada's military must embrace "critical self-reflection" on racism, privilege and "white fragility." https://t.co/dtxRdT8afM

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The military established racial quotas as part of its 2017 Strong, Secure, Engaged policy — aiming for 12% of its force to be minorities by 2026.

Amid growing shortages in the Navy and 35% fewer new recruits in the Armed Forces, academics are blaming "whiteness" for declining troop morale. In fact, the word "white" appears in the recent issue a whopping 190 times to explain why ethnic minorities typically avoid military enrollment.

Eichler and Brown contend integrating "critical theories and an anti-oppression framework into professional military education and training" would go a long way to addressing perceived issues in the Armed Forces.

However, a 2020 commentary by The Royal Canadian Air Force Journal said minorities are disinterested in military careers, making the higher quota "almost impossible to achieve."

Defence department polling unveiled that most visible minorities consider the military a "last resort" as a career option. "They tend to see it as an oblique and arduous pathway to success," pollsters wrote in a 2014 report, Visible Minorities Recruitment And The Canadian Armed Forces. 

During the 2023 Conservative Convention, Retired Canadian Lieutenant General Michel Maisonneuve voiced his opposition to Ottawa turning the military into a ‘woke’ mess.

"Our country has been led by a government that has been focused on virtue signaling," he said. "Apologizing for who we are and how we came to be."

His wife echoed the sentiment, accusing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of having an "innate ability to see endless flaws in everyone else, but none in himself."

In 2022, Maisonneuve criticized the federal government in a similar speech where he derided cancel culture and claimed the “woke movement” is destroying "Canadian values."

"The red maple leaf is the flag that can and should unite all Canadians," said the former official. "Why should we not be patriotic and show it?"

This is a developing story.